


The Jelly Bean Conspiracy

by turante



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 07:46:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10692744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turante/pseuds/turante
Summary: Sherlock is bored, John has a bag full of jelly beans, they make an experiment out of it.





	The Jelly Bean Conspiracy

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the [Spring into Sherlock Festival](http://sherlockmas.livejournal.com/28951.html) at the Sherlockmas lj community.

Sherlock was stretched on the sofa, bored out of his skull, he looked up at John, who was sitting in his armchair and peacefully thumbing his way through a stack of medical journals. “John, I’m bored,” he announced, out of the blue.

“I know,” the doctor sighed, barely looking up from his reading material at all. “What do you want from me?”

“Give me my phone back and I’ll stop bothering you,” Sherlock said, open hand stretched between them.

“So you’ll start annoying Lestrade again? No thanks, I don’t particularly enjoy cavity searches.”

“It was just a hollow threat, John. Much like the drugs busts he organised this far.”

“Sherlock, if he finds your recreational secret stash it will stop being a cautionary measure.” Sherlock snorted and waved his hand a little more. “I’m not giving you back your phone,” John reiterated, adamant in his resolution.

“Fine, suit yourself. Make me some tea when you get up.”

“I’m not getting up to make you tea,” as he said that, John realised he had just read the same sentence over three times, but still had slim hopes of resuming his reading in peace.

“You will, however get up between five and ten minutes from now in order to fix yourself your afternoon cup of tea, as you always do when you are at home.”

“Not today, Sherlock, not today.”

Sherlock looked annoyed but piqued in his interest. “Why the sudden change in your behavioural pattern?”

“You make me sound like a primate in a wildlife documentary. Hell, you make me feel like one.”

“Fine, then why aren’t you going to make tea, oh fine specimen of Homo Sapiens in my living room?”

“ _Our_ living room. And well, I have something else for this afternoon.” John then proceeded to extract a bag of colourful candy from his pocket. “Jelly beans,” he announced with a delighted smile.

Sherlock raised an eyebrow and assumed a perplexed expression. “Jelly beans?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never had any,” John asked in disbelief.

“Hardly. Mummy wasn’t very fond of candy.”

John smiled. “Would you care to try some? They taste like fruit and, well, I can’t describe them in a way that does them justice.”

Sherlock shrugged and sat up. “Why not,” he said, unenthusiastically. He stretched his hand back and John gave him a few jelly beans, which Sherlock then proceeded to study attentively. “How many flavours are there?” the consultant detective asked, looking at the bag in John’s hand.

“I think around fifty.”

“And are they all there?”

“No, the bags are randomly assorted. You get what you get by chance.” He looked inside the bag and tutted.

Sherlock put one candy into his mouth and as he bit it his mouth was flooded with the taste of raspberries. “Hm, raspberry?” he inquired of John, who just shrugged and replied that it was probable. “How can you distinguish them?” Sherlock asked then, inspecting the other two jelly beans in his hand for subtle differences in shape, size and colour.

“By colour, Sherlock. There’s a chart on the website that lists all possible tastes with a visual reference. A legend if you prefer.”

“Interesting.”

“Want to deduce what flavour they are?” John joked, popping a jelly bean into his own mouth.

“Yes, that would be a good exercise. I’ll need a blindfold, though, I don’t want to be influenced by their colour.”

John rolled his eyes. “Are you serious?” he asked, watching Sherlock getting up and walking into his room to get an expensive silk tie. “Oh God, you _are_ serious,” he sighed, waiting for his flatmate to return.

Sherlock returned to the sofa and held out the tie for John to fasten it over his eyes. John pushed him back into a sitting position so that he could sit on the sofa behind Sherlock, and then secured the blindfold over his eyes. “Of course I am.”

“Hm, let’s make a bet of it. I’ll give you twenty different jelly beans. If you guess at least ten correctly I’ll make you tea. Otherwise you will make it for me.”

“Let’s make it fifteen,” Sherlock replied immediately.

“Some are rather farfetched. And you’re not familiar with the list of flavours. Thirteen, tops.”

“Thirteen then. It’s going to be the easiest bet I’ll ever win.”

John shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He took a jelly bean for himself and then picked one for Sherlock. “Wait a second,” he got up to get his laptop and turned it on, googling the webpage of the candymaker. “Ok, I’m ready.”

“I can’t see, John.” He raised a hand to receive the candy, but the doctor put the bean against his lips.

“Open wide,” he ordered, and Sherlock complied with an amused tilt of his mouth.

\---------------------------

"What is this? It's disgusting!"

John checked the package for the legend. "I believe it's chocolate pudding," he replied.

"Can't be," Sherlock protested, making a disgusted face, "chocolate pudding is supposed to be delicious, this thing is foul. Disgusting, dreadful, despicable."

"Ok, you don't like it. There's no need to enumerate all adjectives starting with D."

"That's _your_ opinion, John. Let me decide whether it’s necessary to alliterate or not. Now give me one of the good ones."

"Here, have some liquorice."

Sherlock smiled at him and accepted the candy gladly while John looked at the spreadsheet document he was keeping score on. "I have to warn you that your accuracy is critically low. You have to guess the next 2 out of 3 or I win the bet."

Sherlock set his mouth in a firm line. It almost looked like he was pouting. "Let's go on then..."

John picked up another jelly bean at random and popped it into Sherlock's open mouth. The detective bit it and grimaced again. "As tempted as I am to say ‘soap’, I doubt anyone would make a soap flavoured candy, so I’m going to say cinnamon."

"Impressive... two left." He picked up the following jelly bean and smirked after looking it up. “This one is going to be tough.”

Sherlock snorted and opened his lips dutifully. After biting the candy he spent a few minutes deciding which flavour prevailed over the others. “Hm, some exotic fruit, mango maybe?”

“You’re close, Sherlock, ‘Exotic Punch’, it says here.”

Sherlock shrugged imperceptibly.

“One last jelly bean, and your last chance,” John reminded him.

“How do I know you’re not cheating and choosing these on purpose?”

John leant forward and pressed his lips to Sherlock’s. “I’m not.”

“Give me the last one, then.”

John kissed him again. “I might have eaten the last one,” the ex-army doctor confessed, and Sherlock removed his improvised blindfold and turned to face him.

“Well, only one way to win the bet,” Sherlock whispered and took John’s face in his hands before closing the distance between their mouths and kissing him with passion. The bag with the rest of the jelly beans lay on the floor, ignored by the two of them until the following day.


End file.
